


MIA

by Kye_Kreole



Series: Olivarry Week 2017 [6]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012), Supergirl (TV 2015), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Brief description of canon violence that happened to Oliver, Day 6, Hostage/Kidnapped, Olivarry Week 2017, Worried Barry, a rewrite of 5x17, eventual OT3, everyone is scared and not thinking straight, seriously this poor man needs a break, some time liberties are take of course, takes place from Arrow 5x17 to Flash 3x17, they gotta figure it out first
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-14
Updated: 2017-07-14
Packaged: 2018-12-01 23:46:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11497320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kye_Kreole/pseuds/Kye_Kreole
Summary: When Prometheus takes Oliver for a week, Barry is called in to help, but he doesn’t feel very helpful.Then some interesting feelings come to the surface in more places than one.





	MIA

Barry didn’t believe Felicity at first when she called, but she sounded like she’d been crying for hours.

“Prometheus kidnapped Oliver three days ago and we can’t find him.”

He was out of the cortex and halfway to Star City before Cisco picked up the dropped phone and asked what was happening.

Once Barry got to the Arrow Cave, Felicity told him everywhere they’d looked. When she’d finished telling him, he was out on the streets, double checking the places they’d already looked and looking in places they hadn’t because he could phase through walls.

He kept going for hours. He’d left Central when the sun was setting, and didn’t return to the Arrow Cave until the sun was coming back up.

Barry couldn’t believe it. Oliver was missing. He’d heard about Prometheus, about what he’d done so far, and if his past actions said anything, Chase would not stop until he got what he wanted, regardless of who it hurts.

Diggle brought him six pizza boxes and Felicity called checked up on Cisco confirming he was on his way to the city. The rest of the team returned looking just as subdued as Barry felt.

“Where else?” Barry demanded. “There must be some place that we haven’t looked.”

“We’ve checked everywhere in the city,” Felicity replied, still typing away on her monitors even while her eyes drooped from lack of sleep. Had she slept at all in the last few days? Had any of them?

“Well, what about outside the city?” Barry insisted. “Any abandoned warehouses? Underground tunnels? Is there anything left from Darhk’s H.I.V.E. operation?”

“Barry,” Felicity shouted. “We’ve already been looking for days. We’ve exhausted every idea already. We’re doing our best.”

“Well obviously that isn’t good enough,” Barry argued.

“Okay,” Diggle interjected. “We’re all tired and worried, but arguing isn’t going to find him.”

“We all need to sleep,” Dinah suggested. “We’re all running on fumes, and can’t see straight let alone think straight.”

“Agreed,” Diggle said, eyes never leaving Felicity and Barry. “Cisco won’t be here until later. Let’s eat,” he pointedly looked from Barry to the stack of pizzas, “sleep and regroup when he gets here.”

The group nodded and all moved to find the cots where they were scattered in the underground complex.

Barry forced himself to eat at least three of the pizzas before he laid down to sleep. His worry buzzed around in his head like a hive of wasps, but his body was so tired. He fell into a fretful sleep, images of Oliver’s bloody body waltzing through his head.

He woke up after a couple hours not wanting to be asleep anymore. He made his way to the main room where he found Felicity behind her monitors.

“Couldn’t sleep?” he asked, slowing walking up to sit in the second chair.

“About as much as you did, apparently,” she mumbled, typing some code on the screen before looking at another one. “Nightmares?”

“Yeah. You?”

“Worse than any crime scene I’ve been to,” she replied, fingers pausing at the thought.

“Same,” Barry mumbled.

They sat in semi-silence, Barry watching Felicity track camera’s and monitor the facial recognition scanners.

“I’m sorry,” Barry broke the quiet, “about earlier.”

“Me too,” Felicity replied stopping her work to turn and face the speedster.

“I was tired and worried about the fact that he’s just missing and…” he trailed off seeing his fears reflected on the woman’s face.

“I know,” she said with a small smile. “I hadn’t really slept for three days and I was at the end of my rope.”

“Why didn’t you call earlier?” he asked.

She just shrugged, “You’ve been busy with Savitar and the whole saving Iris thing that Diggle and I didn’t want to add this on top of it all.”

“You can call us anytime,” Barry insisted, reaching to place a hand of Felicity’s knee. “We don’t need an alien invasion to work together.”

That made her laugh.

“Oh my God,” she groaned. “That did happen, didn’t it?”

Barry just laughed and nodded.

“What did you and Oliver do after?” she asked, glancing at the screens briefly.

“We went to a bar and just talked,” Barry remembered.

“About?”

“How not normal our lives have become.”

She snorted, “Ain’t that the truth.”

Silence descended for moment before she asked him, “Do you miss being normal?”

Barry thought about it. He remembered everything from the last four years. Meeting Team Arrow, getting struck by lightning, getting powers, all of it.

“Only when the not normal gets in the way of the normal things.”

“Like an engagement?” Felicity tentatively guessed.

Barry sighed. “I messed up, Felicity. I proposed to Iris for all the wrong reasons. I did love her, I do, but I proposed so that I could change the future. I was so impatient to have a future that I ruined any chance I had at one.”

He closed his eyes, trying to push the memories away. Oliver was the priority right now. He still had time to save Iris, even if they weren’t together.

“Maybe that’s not the only reason,” Felicity said.

He opened his eyes and stared at her. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, you love Iris, anyone can see that, but maybe you were so impatient because you wanted to prove you didn’t love someone else.”

Barry just stared at her confused. He loved someone else? Someone who wasn’t Iris? Sure, he’d liked people before, but he’d never felt the way he did with Iris with anyone else.

“I see the way you look at Oliver, and the way he looks at you, Bar.”

Oliver? No, Oliver was his friend, a partner, a mentor when Barry needed it.

“He used to look at Laurel and me that way,” Felicity continued. “Now, those looks are only for you. And like I said, you love Iris, but you love Oliver too.”

He loved Oliver?

He loved Oliver.

It settled in his head and it wasn’t confusing or even just wrong. It made sense. It made perfect sense.

He loved Iris.

That also made sense. He’d always loved Iris. He’d hidden that love and chased it for years.

He loved Oliver.

That had sneaked up on him. Taken its time to become real. Subtly taking up residence in his heart and mind when he wasn’t paying attention.

“I love Oliver,” he tested. It was no less true saying it out loud.

“And he loves you,” Felicity said, turning back to her computer, “even if he’s too scared to admit it to himself and you.”

Barry wanted to question her further, but his phone rang out from a text.

_Cisco: I’m off my train. Come pick me up?_

“Cisco’s here,” Barry relayed, standing. “I’m gonna go pick him up.”

“I’ll wake everyone up,” Felicity said. “Take your time.”

Barry smiled then walked to the elevator.

He stopped running around the corner of the station and casually walked in to find Cisco sitting nearby. He stood up and jogged to meet Barry.

“Any news?” he asked. Barry just shook his head. The hope on Cisco’s face dimmed. “Well, then let’s go find him.”

The headed for the front doors at a normal pace.

“You know you could’ve saved me the train fare,” Cisco teased lightly, trying to lighten the mood.

“Sorry,” Barry replied. “I was running around all night and probably would have dropped you if I tried running to get you.”

“Valid,” Cisco said. “Wouldn’t want to get a concussion because of a drowsy speedster.”

Barry smiled. They turned to corner and he grabbed Cisco and ran to the Arrow cave. They rode down the elevator, stepped out and found Diggle, Rene, Dinah, Felicity, Curtis, and Quentin standing around waiting for them.

“Hey Cisco,” Curtis greeted.

Cisco greeted the team and moved to stand by Felicity who was holding Oliver’s old bow.

Barry stood by and watched Cisco grab the bow and vibe. He stood there for a moment before he started shaking.

“Cisco,” Barry called, stepping up.

The shaking got worse and soon enough, Cisco was stumbling backwards letting go of the old bow.

“No!” Felicity called, reaching for the falling bow.

Barry felt his lightning crackle, and he raced to catch the antique before it was destroyed. He caught it and stopped next to Felicity as Cisco ran to a wastebasket under one of the computer desks, dry heaving.

“Cisco,” Barry called, running over at a normal speed. “Are you alright?”

When the long-haired man stopped emptying his stomach, he sat on the floor leaning against the desk.

“What happened?” Diggle asked.

“I saw him,” Cisco answered between heaving breaths. “He was in some sort of cell. And Chase was there.”

“A cell,” Felicity mumbled, rushing to a computer.

“Did you see anything else?” Barry asked placing a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Anything that could tell us where they are?”

Cisco shook his head, “I couldn’t see out the window that was there. Besides I couldn’t stay for long. Not with what was happening.”

Fear struck Barry like the lightning bolt from years ago. “What was happening?” he whispered.

The pained expression on Cisco’s face didn’t make alleviate his fears. “Oliver was on the ground, chained down. Chase was on top of him. He was…”

“What?” Diggle urged stepping closer to the metahumans on the ground.

Cisco glanced around at the people in the room before closing his eyes. “He had a handheld blowtorch and was burning off a tattoo on Oliver’s chest.

Barry felt his stomach drop. He knew that tattoo. Anyone who had seen Oliver shirtless knew what that tattoo was. The sign of a Bratva Captain.

“Felicity?” Diggle asked leaving the conversation.

“We’ve already checked any building with a cell in and out of the city limits,” she responded, still typing away.

“Maybe Chase built it,” Rene offered.

“Apartment building?” Dinah suggested.

“Old police stations,” Quentin offered, standing behind Felicity gesturing to certain places on the map.

“Cisco,” Barry said, catching the man’s attention. “You need to vibe again.”

Cisco’s eyes widened. “No. Not yet.”

“Cisco, Chase is torturing Oliver. We need to find him. Now.”

“I can’t right now.”

“Cisco, please.”

“No!” Cisco shouted, pushing Barry away and standing up. Barry watched in shock as the other metahuman paced. The others turned to watch their exchange.

“Barry,” he started, “I just watched Oliver Queen - the man who can barely smile let alone express other emotions beside brooding - scream in pure agony. Oliver Queen - the King of feeling no pain - beg to die because of the pain. The man who inspired you, inspired everyone here to fight for what’s good, was falling apart right in front of my eyes. I’m sorry if I need a minute to wrap my head around that.”

The room was silent after that. Barry took in his words. Of course, Cisco was freaking out. To him, Oliver was the guy who can’t be hurt. If Chase can hurt Oliver, who knows what else he can do to anyone.

“Alright,” Barry said, slowly stepping up to the man. “You’re right. I’m sorry. Take your time.”

Cisco nodded and stepped down to sit in a leather seat. Barry turned to the rest of the team. They all stared at them, unsure if they should say anything.

“Felicity do you have a list of potential places?”

Felicity blinked out of the shock and turned back to her monitors. “Yeah, I’ve got some potential hiding spots but most of them we already hit.”

“Then we’ll hit ‘em again,” Diggle said. “Oliver wouldn’t stop looking for us and we aren’t going to stop looking for him.”

Everyone nodded and moved to get ready to go.

Barry stepped down and stood near Cisco.

“Hey man,” he greeted. Cisco opened his eyes and gave him a tired smile.

“You up for a little searching?” Barry offered.

“Not really,” Cisco answered. “Besides you could search everywhere faster than we can.”

“They need it,” Barry said, “They’d go crazy if they weren’t out there looking themselves.”

“True,” Cisco agreed, looking over his shoulder as the team got suited up.

“You think you can maybe vibe a portal?” Barry asked.

“I’m not sure,” Cisco considered. “I mean I probably could. Cynthia can, but I don’t know. Besides I’m exhausted after that.”

“Take your time, sleep if you need to.”

“Maybe,” Cisco hummed.

~

Cisco did doze off for a little bit, while the team went out searching. Barry stayed and was put on civilian watch, since the team was so focused on finding Oliver.

When they came back later that night, they were all slumped over, their faces showing the failure they were feeling.

Cisco did try to vibe a portal but they ended up in an empty holding cell at SCPD. And an empty cell at Iron Heights. Either there was something blocking Cisco from finding Oliver or Cisco was just out of practice. Either way, Cisco was exhausted afterwards and needed to sleep it off. Team Arrow came up with a rotation for who was out on the streets when, and Barry sat by Felicity as she jumped from monitor to monitor.

It was going to be a long night.

~

They kept searching for two days, discovering different places to try, and each one was a dead end. Cisco did try vibing with the bow again, but was unable to get a real lock on where Oliver was being held. He went back to Central City after the fifth vibe, claiming if it hadn’t worked yet, then all he was doing was making their stress worse.

They conceded his point and let him leave, Barry dropping him off at the train station.

During those two long days, Barry came to terms with his feelings for the missing man. He didn’t want to freak out when they found him and scare Oliver off. He would probably be exhausted, and the longer they took the more pain he was probably being put through.

He got to know the new members of the team really well. Dinah and he had got to talking about being metahumans and dealing with powers. He would listen to Felicity and Curtis babble off tech stuff, and watched Diggle train with Rene and Dinah, keeping them sharp, now more than ever.

Felicity wrote and rewrote any algorithm she could come up with. Barry helped with anything he could, but he knew that he would have to go back to Central City soon, regardless of whether they’d found Oliver or not.

His sleeping had become erratic and had yet to last longer than four hours at most. Every time he fell asleep, he would see Oliver bloody and dead in the street or being burned to a crisp. Felicity and Diggle assure him that Chase’s goal wasn’t killing Oliver but that didn’t stop the nightmares.

Seven days after Oliver had been taken, Barry, Felicity and Diggle were standing around the monitors, watching as Felicity’s newest algorithm ran.

“Dammit, dammit, dammit,” Felicity muttered. The system had finished its designed search and had brought only places they’d already looked.

“What should we do?” Barry asked, rubbing his face.

“I don’t know,” Felicity answered as she pulled up the code she’d spent hours writing.

“Lyla’s already used all the Argus’ resources she can think of,” Diggle said, reading the message on his phone.

“Maybe Helix will get back to me,” Felicity pondered.

“I can run out again,” Barry said moving to change into his suit.

“Don’t bother,” a hoarse voice called.

Three heads whipped around to see Oliver stepping out of the elevator. His chest was bare and was covered in cuts, bruises, and burn mark where a Bratva tattoo had once been.

They all started rushing to him, questions bursting out, one over another. Oliver stepped away from them, holding a hand out. They all stopped advancing and quieted their questions.

“I just need to be alone for a little bit,” he said, eyes closed, shoulders hunch, and voice tired. “I need to get clean and I need quiet.”

They all looked at him before they each nodded. Oliver walked toward the showers, limping slightly.

When he left the room, the three looked at each other, asking silent questions.

“I’ll stay,” Barry offered. “I can run him to the hospital if absolutely needs it.”

Diggle and Felicity nodded. They grabbed their things, said goodbye to the speedster and left the hideout.

Barry sat down in a leather armchair and waited.

He knew what was going to happen. Oliver was going to refuse to talk about what happened. Barry would try to get him to open up. Oliver would fight him. Barry would fight back. The only thing Barry couldn’t fully predict was the victor.

Oliver took his time and Barry let him, knowing if he wanted to get the truth, Oliver had to think it was the best option.

When Oliver did come out, he was showered, the cuts and burn were bandaged, but he still hunched over. He walked over to the weapons area and just looked over everything. He sharpened some arrow heads, and tightened his bow. He set the bow down and sighed.

“Shouldn’t you be back in Central City?” he asked, not turning.

“I will,” Barry answered. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“You could’ve called, from _Central City_ ,” Oliver emphasized.

“I _wanted_ to stay in _Star City_ ,” Barry countered. So, it began.

“I’m fine,” Oliver said walking to his motorcycle. Barry stood and followed at a normal pace, keeping his eyes on the man’s back.

“I don’t believe you.”

“Well you should, it’s the truth.” Oliver knelt by the vehicle, looking over it.

“I tell myself that too, you know,” Barry stopped a few feet from the man. Oliver had stepped away earlier, so Barry chose to maintain the space until Oliver let him in.

Oliver sighed, bowing his head, not even pretending to look at the motorcycle.

“It doesn’t matter if I’m okay or not,” the man argued. “Chase is still out there and he needs to be stopped, no matter the cost.”

“That doesn’t sound like the Oliver Queen I know,” Barry countered.

“Then you don’t know me,” Oliver said, standing and moving to the monitor space. Barry followed behind.

“I know you regret killing all those people,” Barry said making Oliver stop, “and I know you wish you could take it all back.”

Oliver’s back was tense. He didn’t turn to face Barry, but he didn’t try to move from the spot.

Barry continued, “I know that you think you hurt everyone around you and you keep everyone you love at arm’s length to protect them from that. I know that you even though those five years were hell, you wouldn’t trade them away because in the end they did make you a better man. I know that Diggle and Felicity and your entire team would follow you to the edge of the earth if it meant making a difference. I know people listen to you and trust you lead them even if you don’t make the right choices the first time around because when it comes to your friends, you won’t make the same mistake twice.”

Barry watched as Oliver would tense and relax through his speech. Oliver wanted to believe that the things Barry was saying were true, he just refused to see that they were.

“And I know… that I love you,” Barry said, not caring about Oliver’s reaction anymore. Oliver needed to hear that someone did love him.

That was when Oliver finally turned. His eyes were shining with unshed tears. His face was no longer a stoic mask but an expression of shock, fear, and a little hope.

“When I found out you were the Arrow, I couldn’t believe it. I was meeting my hero. They say not to meet your heroes, but they give the wrong reason. You might fall in love with them. You might look up to them and look to them for advice on how to be the best version of yourself. You might worry about them but you know you can’t stop them. You might want them to be happy even if it’s with someone else, and you deserve to be happy, Ollie. After everything you’ve been and after everything you’ve done or seen or experienced, you deserve to be happy. You deserve to be loved and cared about and worried about. You deserve so much because you’ve after everything you’ve been through, you came out stronger and more determined to make your home a better place. You deserve it, Ollie.”

Barry stopped to wipe the tears running down his face. This was not how he’d planned it would go, but fuck it, if Oliver refused to hear, then Barry would make him listen.

He looked back up to the archer. Oliver stared at him so openly, Barry didn’t even recognize half of the emotions that ran across the man’s face. Barry just stood his ground, making sure all Oliver saw was the truth.

_I love you._

_I love you._

_I love you._

“I love you too,” Oliver whispered.

Barry blinked. What?

“I’ve tried to tell myself I don’t for a while now,” Oliver admitted, “but I can’t deny it anymore, can I?”

They just stared at each other.

“I love you,” Oliver whispered.

Then, Barry was across the room, pulling Oliver into his arms and kissing the man senseless. Oliver pulled him closer, pressing his body into Barry’s.

Not long after, they were just holding each other. Squeezing to the point of bruising.

“I’m a killer,” Oliver whispered into Barry’s neck.

“Is that what he told you?” Barry questioned, hand stroking Oliver’s blond hair.

“He didn’t have to,” Oliver mumbled. “It’s what I am.”

“It’s what you were,” Barry quietly insisted. “It’s not what you are now.”

“Barry-”

“No,” Barry stated, squeezing him harder. “I don’t care what he told you or convinced you of, you are not a killer now. You regret those years. I know you do. Don’t let that psychopath tell you anything else. I love you because of who you are now. I look at how far you’ve come and I’m proud of you. I’m proud to love you.”

Barry felt new tears press into his neck as Oliver held on tighter.

“I love you,” they whispered over and over again. “I love you.”

They stayed in the hideout, sitting on the couch and just holding each other close, reminding each other…

 _I love you_.


End file.
